Gustav Mahler - Symphony No. 1 in D major "Titan" 2/2 - YouTube Gustav Mahler - Symphony No. 1 in D major "Titan" 2/2 Want to watch this again later? Sign in to add this video to a playlist. Need to report the video? Sign in to report inappropriate content. Rating is available when the video has been rented. This feature is not available right now. Please try again later. Published on Aug 2, 2013 Symphony No. 1 in D major "Titan", third movement: Feierlich und gemessen, ohne zu schleppen; four movement: Stürmisch bewegt - Energisch. Author: Gustav Mahler (1860 - 1911). The third movement acts as the slow movement in the four-movement plan. The extra-musical idea behind it is that of a hunter's funeral and a procession of animals that follows. The initial and recurring melodic material is based on the popular round "Bruder Martin" more commonly known as "Frère Jacques"; however, Mahler places the melody in a minor mode.

The subject is first presented by a solo double bass, followed by bassoon, tuba and, eventually, the entire orchestra. A counter-melody is played over top of the canon in the oboe. The mood changes, and one of the most distinctive portions of this symphony follows. Mahler uses cymbal, bass drum, oboes, clarinets and a trumpet duo to produce the sound of a small klezmer band; Mahler's use of klezmer is sometimes accredited to his Jewish roots. After a brief return to the opening round, a third, more contemplative section ensues, featuring material from Mahler's "Die zwei blauen Augen". Finally, Mahler incorporates all three thematic elements on top of each other. However, the components and motifs gradually fall apart, and the movement ends with simple alternating fourths in the lower strings, notably the key motif from the first movement. The fourth movement is by far the most involved, and expansive. It brings back several elements from the first movement, unifying the symphony as a whole.

The movement begins with an abrupt cymbal crash, a loud chord in the upper woodwinds, string and brass, and a bass drum hit, all in succession. This contrasts greatly with the end of the third movement. The movement continues frantically until an expansive lyrical theme is presented in the strings. Eventually, the opening fragments in the brass emerge, and the energy picks up once more. Mahler then presents the initial motive, in the brass, this time in D major, and the horns play a full-forced altered version of the descending fourth pattern from the beginning of the symphony, as if heading to a climax. However, this climax is not realized, and the momentum sinks to another lyrical section, bringing back other quotes from the first movement, including fanfares, and "Ging heut Morgen übers Feld". Also included is material from the original second movement Blumine, before the above theme returns in minor one last time in the strings, leading to its repetition in D major by the brass and reaching a true climax. The symphony concludes with fanfare material from the beginning. Conductor: Mariss Jansons & Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra. Category Mahler “Symphony No.

1 in D Major” Mahler “Symphony No. 1 in D Major” April 25, 2012 Gustav Mahler (1860-1911) Symphony No. 1 in D Major “Titan” (1887-1896) Mahler’s first symphony was originally premiered in 1889 as a five movement symphonic poem in two parts, but the lukewarm response from both critics and the public nearly doomed it to oblivion. In an effort to make the work more accessible, Mahler made a few adjustments, including retitling the movements and adding the subtitle “Titan.” While this was more successful, Mahler was not entirely satisfied, and in 1896 he premiered the final version of the work, eliminating the second movement and all of the descriptive movement titles. However, Mahler had already published his program; the bell could not be unrung.

And indeed many generations of audiences have been helped by his descriptions, for which reason it is appropriate to reprint Mahler’s words, although it is worth noting that the composer felt that they could be misleading if taken too literally: Part I ‘From the days of youth,’ flower-, Fruit- and Thorn-pieces MOVEMENT 1: ‘Spring and no end’ (Introduction and Allegro Comodo). The Introduction depicts the awakening of Nature from the long sleep of winter. MOVEMENT 2: ‘With full sails’ (Scherzo) Part II MOVEMENT 3: Stranded! (A funeral march in ‘the manner of Callot’.) The following might explain this movement: the external inspiration for the piece came to the author from a parodistic picture well known to all children in Austria, from an old children’s book: the animals of the forest accompany the dead huntsman’s bier to the grave; hares escort the little troop, in front of them marches a group of Bohemian musicians, accompanied by playing cats, toads, crows etc. Stags, deer, foxes and other four-legged and feathered animals follow the procession in comic attitudes.

In this passage the piece is intended to have now an ironically merry, now a mysteriously brooding mood, onto which immediately… MOVEMENT 4: ‘D’all Inferno al Paradiso’ (“From Hell to Heaven,” Allegro furioso) follows, like the suddenly erupting cry of a heart wounded to its depths The symphony begins with a pianissimo drone in the strings, in a piercingly high register, while winds play a theme (utilizing descending fourths, a favorite technique of Mahler’s to open a movement) in octaves. This desolate passage was borrowed most recently in Terrence Malick’s film The Tree of Life, where it depicted a variety of empty yet sublime spaces. As Mahler wrote to his colleague Franz Schalk, “The introduction to the first movement sounds of nature, not music!” (from left corner: “Frühling und Kein Ende!” [Spring without end!] “Langsam! Schleppend! [Slow! Dragging!]) The second movement is a joyful scherzo, where the third movement is a funeral march reminiscent of Beethoven’s Symphony No.

3 “Eroica.” The timpani opens the movement by tapping out a series of fourths; eventually a single double bass enters with the children’s tune “Frère Jacques” (known in English as “Are You Sleeping, Brother John?”), playing so high in register that the sound is almost sickly, and in the minor mode. Eventually the funeral march fades away and Mahler mimics the sound of a klezmer town band, only to completely abandon the idea in favor of quoting a melody from his earlier song cycle Songs of the Wayfarer (whose tunes he often recycled in his earlier symphonies). But eventually the peaceful melody gives way, and the death march that opened the music also closes it. The final movement follows without pause, beginning with Mahler’s depiction of the wounded, crying heart. After the violent opening, interrupted briefly by a lyrical passage, Mahler transitions from C major to D major, arriving finally with a victorious chorale in the horn section in the section that unmistakably heralds victory over the struggle and emergence into Paradise.

~program notes by Jessica Davis, copyright 2012 for permission to republish, contact theexplicatrix@gmail.com What does viagra do she helps to feel full the person in big group of people. that sometimes it appears rises the whole problem for many. But if you correctly use it. That what problems you won’t have any more. Does viagra work and in my life I am absolutely precisely main character. So relax the rolls and live without thinking about the past. Which disturbed you. Click HERE for the 2017 Apprentice application form. Refreshing Hot Springs National Park Mentors MAHLER, G.: Symphony No. 1, "Titan" (Polish National Radio Symphony, Halasz) Symphony No.1 in D Major “Titan” Langsam, schleppend Feierlich und gemessen, ohne zu schleppen Stürmisch bewegt Blumine (original 2nd movement) The great Viennese symphonic tradition found worthy successors in two composers of very different temperament and background, Anton Bruckner and Gustav Mahler. The latter, indeed, extended the form in an extraordinary way that has had a far-reaching effect on the course of Western music.

Mahler was to express succinctly enough his position in the world. He saw himself as three times homeless, a native of Bohemia in Austria, an Austrian among Germans and a Jew throughout the whole world. The second child, and the first of fourteen to survive, he was born in Kaliste in Bohemia. Soon after his birth his family moved to Jihlava, where his father, by his own very considerable efforts, had raised himself from being little more than a pedlar, with a desire for intellectual self-improvement, to the running of a tavern and distillery. Mahler’s musical abilities were developed first in Jihlava, before a brief period of schooling in Prague, which ended unhappily, and a later course of study at the Conservatory in Vienna, where he turned from the piano to composition and, as a necessary corollary, conducting. It was as a conductor that Mahler made his career, at first at a series of provincial opera-houses, and later in the position of the highest distinction of all, when, in 1897, he became Kapellmeister of the Vienna Hofoper, two months after his baptism as a Catholic, a necessary preliminary.

In Vienna he made significant reforms in the Court Opera, but made enough enemies, particularly represented in the anti-semitic press, to lead to his resignation in 1907, followed by a final period conducting in America and elsewhere, in a vain attempt to secure his family’s future before his own imminent death, which took place on 18 May 1911. Although his career as a conductor involved him most closely with opera, Mahler attempted little composition in this field. His work as a composer consists chiefly of his songs and of his ten symphonies, the last left unfinished at his death, and his monumental setting of poems from the Chinese in Das Lied von der Erde. Mahler’s Symphony No.1 in D Major was completed, in its first version, in 1888, incredibly enough five years before Dvorak’s Symphony From the New World and only five years after the last symphony of Brahms. It was first performed the following year in Budapest, where Mahler had been appointed director of the Hungarian opera, before an audience that became increasingly restive as the work proceeded.

For the symphony Mahler had drawn up a programme, although he strongly believed that, whatever literary programme might lie behind a composition, the music should be able to stand on its own, without verbal explanation. No narrative element was given to the first audience in Budapest, but later performances were at first helped by a sketched description of the work: Part I From the days of youth - Flower, Fruit and Thorn-pieces (Blumen, Früchte und Dornenstücke) 1. Spring and no end to it. The introduction describes the awakening of nature and earliest dawn. 2. Bluminenkapitel (Andante) 3. In full sail (Scherzo) Part II Commedia umana 4. Shipwrecked. A dead march in the manner of Callot. The following explanation may be given, if required: The composer found the external inspiration for this piece in a satirical picture well known to all children in South Germany, The Huntsman’s Funeral, from an old book of children’s stories. The animals of the forest escort the body of the dead forester to the grave.

Hares carry a little flag, with a band of Bohemian village musicians in front, accompanied by cats, toads, crows, and so on, playing, and by stags, does, foxes and other four-footed and feathered denizens of the forest, in comic guise. Here the music is intended to express ironic jesting alternating with mysterious brooding. This is followed immediately by: 5. Dall’inferno al Paradiso (Allegro furioso), the sudden expression of the feelings of a deeply wounded heart. The symphony, originally a symphonic poem, although without title, has a more explicit literary source in the work of Jean Paul, an early Romantic writer whose Flegeljahre had had a strong influence on the young Schumann. The programmatic titles of the first two movements are taken from Jean Paul, whose connection with the seventeenth century French artist Jacques Callot is seen in his preface to E. T.A. Hoffmann’s Phantasiestücke in Callots Manier.

In short the symphony, in common with Mahler’s early songs, has its literary inspiration in writing of the earliest romantics, in the curiously grotesque ironical world of Jean Paul and in the evocative Des Knaben Wunderhorn of Brentano and von Arnim. The later title of the work, Titan, refers not to the struggle between the ancient gods of Greece so much as to the novel of that name by Jean Paul, in which two “titans” or Himmelsstürmer, struggle for their aims of intellectual freedom or pleasure. The first movement opens with a slow section in which fanfares pierce the summer morning mists, suggesting pictorially the ideas of Mahler’s earlier song Ging heut’ Morgen über’s Feld, the melody of which provides the first subject. The slower music returns, but nothing is done to dispel the mood of happy serenity, although, as the movement hurries forward again, we may be aware of more tragic implications, Dornenstücke. A scherzo follows, with a Schubertian trio, completing the first section.

After a pause the second part of the symphony opens with a solemn funeral march, making satirical use of a minor version of the children’s song Frere Jacques, and easily intelligible in terms of the composer’s explanation. Use is also made of Mahler’s song Die zwei blaue Augen in music of bitter contrast and heartfelt anguish. The last movement, to which the Italian explanatory title was later added, is one of great dramatic intensity. Audiences unfamiliar with the work might well be warned by the example of the first performance in Budapest, when a woman jumped out of her seat in alarm as the movement began, an incident that caused the composer some amusement. A march leads to a more lyrical melody, before a renewed storm of sound, in music that is, as Mahler was to claim, a world in itself. For the first three performances of his first symphony Mahler included a second movement Andante, later to be discarded. The modern re-discovery of this Blumine movement in 1966 by the Mahler scholar Donald Mitchell led to a performance the following year at Aldeburgh under the direction of Benjamin Britten.

For various reasons Donald Mitchell was able to identify this lyrical and romantic movement with its extended trumpet melody with music that Mahler had written in 1884 as part of his now lost incidental music for performances at Cassel of Joseph Scheffel’s popular Der Trompeter von Säkkingen, a work that in its metre must suggest the verse of Longfellow to an English-speaking reader. The hero blows the trumpet, the sound of which is heard through the night, heard by the Rhine and the spirits of the river, carried by the wind to the castle of his master. Presto Classical - Mahler: Symphony No. 1 in D major 'Titan' - Exton: EXCL00034 Mahler: Symphony No. 1 in D major 'Titan' Exton: EXCL00034 Prices shown exclude VAT. (UK tax is not payable for deliveries to United States.) See Terms & Conditions for p&p rates. Label: (also available to download from $10.00) Usually despatched in 2 - 3 working days. (Available now to download.) This new 2-channel Hybrid SACD recording of Mahler’s Symphony No.

1 in D major, sometimes known as the ‘Titan’, features one of the most highly sought after conductors working today, Sakari Oramo, and the orchestra of which he is currently the Chief Conductor, the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic. The Finnish conductor Sakari Oramo's skill and commitment to the highest quality musicmaking have earned him the greatest respect and widespread admiration. He appears regularly with the word’s most prestigious orchestras such as the Berliner Philharmoniker, Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, NDR Sinfonieorchester, the New York and Oslo Philharmonic orchestras, and was music director at the CBSO between 1999 and 2008. He has produced a number of highly-acclaimed recordings for Bis, (a Sibelius symphony cycle), Warner Classics and Hyperion. He has also been a recipient of numerous awards, including an Honorary OBE in recognition of his services to music. Gustav Mahler composed his Symphony No. 1 in D major between 1884 and 1888, but made significant revisions to the work during 1894.

It was premiered in Budapest in 1889, where it was presented as a five-movement piece under the title ‘Symphonische Dichtung in zwei Teilen’ (symphonic poem in two parts). In subsequent performances the piece was presented as ‘Titan’, eine Tondichtung in Symphonie-form (a tone poem in the form of a symphony). ‘Titan’ refers to the book of the same name by the German writer Jean Paul. After further revisions, however, Mahler dropped the title, the descriptive movement titles, and the andante second movement, called ‘Blumine’. Gustav Mahler: Symphony No.1. in D Major Titan, 1. Langsam. Schleppend. Wie ein Naturlaut. Symphony No.1. in D Major Titan, 1. Langsam. Schleppend. Wie ein Naturlaut. Gustav Mahler: Symphony No.1. in D Major Titan, 2. Kraftig bewegt, doch nicht zu schnell Symphony No.1. in D Major Titan, 2. Kraftig bewegt, doch nicht zu schnell Gustav Mahler: Symphony No.1.

in D Major Titan, 3. Feierlich und gemessen, ohne zu schleppen Symphony No.1. in D Major Titan, 3. Feierlich und gemessen, ohne zu schleppen Gustav Mahler: Symphony No.1. in D Major Titan, 4. Sturmisch bewegt - Energisch Symphony No.1. in D Major Titan, 4. Sturmisch bewegt - Energisch February 2011 **** “[Oramo] brings sounds and textures to our ears I've heard from no-one else...all the little dewy interjections at the dawn of time make their mark...The Stockholm musicians play very well for Oramo, with horns full and throaty when required and plenty of incisiveness in the finale's turbulent marching.” March 2011 “Right from the initial bars it is clear that Oramo has the measure of the music's harmonic and tonal stasis...Circumspect to the last...Oramo makes the stark emergence of the finale more telling...The closing bars are of a piece with what went before in their incisive yet never unduly rhetorical finality.” Choose Format: Mahler: Symphony No.

1 in D major 'Titan' (SACD) (2010) - пїЅпїЅпїЅпїЅпїЅпїЅ пїЅпїЅпїЅпїЅпїЅпїЅ пїЅпїЅ пїЅпїЅпїЅпїЅпїЅ SACD. пїЅ пїЅпїЅпїЅпїЅпїЅпїЅпїЅпїЅпїЅ пїЅпїЅ пїЅпїЅпїЅпїЅ пїЅпїЅпїЅпїЅпїЅпїЅ Mahler: Symphony No. 1 in D major 'Titan' (SACD) (2010) пїЅпїЅпїЅпїЅпїЅпїЅпїЅпїЅпїЅпїЅ пїЅпїЅпїЅпїЅпїЅ: CDVP 283806 пїЅпїЅпїЅ пїЅпїЅпїЅпїЅпїЅ.

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пїЅ пїЅпїЅ пїЅпїЅпїЅпїЅпїЅпїЅпїЅпїЅ This new recording of Sakari Oramo and the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra is produced by EXTON, the Japanese classical music label internationally known for its audio quality.

Sakari Oramo, a great talent who devotes all of his energy to the music, is chief conductor and artistic advisor of this orchestra, and this recording of Mahler's First Symphony reveals how wonderfully their chemistry works! пїЅпїЅпїЅпїЅпїЅпїЅпїЅпїЅ пїЅпїЅ пїЅпїЅпїЅпїЅпїЅпїЅпїЅпїЅ This new 2-channel Hybrid SACD recording of Mahler’s Symphony No. 1 in D major, sometimes known as the ‘Titan’, features one of the most highly sought after conductors working today, Sakari Oramo, and the orchestra of which he is currently the Chief Conductor, the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic. The Finnish conductor Sakari Oramo's skill and commitment to the highest quality musicmaking have earned him the greatest respect and widespread admiration.

He appears regularly with the word’s most prestigious orchestras such as the Berliner Philharmoniker, Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, NDR Sinfonieorchester, the New York and Oslo Philharmonic orchestras, and was music director at the CBSO between 1999 and 2008. He has produced a number of highly-acclaimed recordings for Bis, (a Sibelius symphony cycle), Warner Classics and Hyperion. He has also been a recipient of numerous awards, including an Honorary OBE in recognition of his services to music. Gustav Mahler composed his Symphony No. 1 in D major between 1884 and 1888, but made significant revisions to the work during 1894. It was premiered in Budapest in 1889, where it was presented as a five-movement piece under the title ‘Symphonische Dichtung in zwei Teilen’ (symphonic poem in two parts). In subsequent performances the piece was presented as ‘Titan’, eine Tondichtung in Symphonie-form (a tone poem in the form of a symphony).

‘Titan’ refers to the book of the same name by the German writer Jean Paul. After further revisions, however, Mahler dropped the title, the descriptive movement titles, and the andante second movement, called ‘Blumine’. Track Listings 1. Symphony No. 1 in D major ('Titan'): 1. Langsam. Schleppend. Wie ein Naturlaut (Slow, dragging, like a sound of nature) - Immer sehr 2. Symphony No. 1 in D major ('Titan'): 2. Kräftog bewegt, doch nicht zu schnell (With vigorous movement, but not too fast) - Trio: Rech 3. Symphony No. 1 in D major ('Titan'): 3. Feierlich und gemessen, ohne zu schleppen (Solemn and measured, without dragging) 4. Symphony No. 1 in D major ('Titan'): 4.

Stürmisch bewegt (With tempestuous movement) - Energisch (Energetic) пїЅпїЅпїЅпїЅпїЅпїЅпїЅпїЅ пїЅпїЅпїЅпїЅ пїЅпїЅпїЅпїЅпїЅпїЅ Amazon.com: Customer Reviews: Mahler: Symphony No. 1 in D Major "Titan"; Adagio from Symphony No. 10 Format: Audio CD | Verified Purchase I must say that this CD is absolutely sublime. Unlike the previous reviewer, I felt symphony No. 1 comes across as fresh and exciting. I also find the sound to be quite good and the intonation of the New York Philharmonic is world class. Mahler's 1st has many colors and offers moments of breathtaking beauty and mystery. From it's almost Pastoral opening, through the effervescent Scherzo and into the darker recesses of the last movements, it is a late 19th century jewel. The music, as conducted by Bernstein, is particularly alive and engaging. Also, the 10th Adagio is a masterpiece. It's power sends shivers throughout.

This most be a definitive recording of the only movement Mahler got to complete of his last Symphony. In summary, nearly 80 minutes of incredible music that captures a great Mahlerian conductor and a superb orchestra. A highly recommended purchase. 0Comment | 27 people found this helpful. Was this review helpful to you? Yes No Report abuse Comment Format: Audio CD | Verified Purchase As with so many Bernstein/NYPO recordings in the Bernstein Century series, this Gustav Mahler Symphony No. 1 and Adagio from the Tenth is excellent, and the sound is at least very good to excellent. The 1st movement is taken at a fairly conventional tempo, although Lenny is never a slave to tempo and modifies it at will but always in the service of the music. The 2nd movement had a generally conventional tempo, as well, but it was more variable than in the 1st movement. The interpretation was, of course, dramatic. The 3rd movement Frere Jacques tempo could never be called sluggish. It felt comfortable, nonetheless. Bernstein slows the tempo at the conclusion of the movement, so it remains suitably dramatic.

The 4th movement is emotionally dramatic and tempi are the most variable, ranging from conventional to very brisk. The Adagio from Mahler 10 is a beautiful work, and possibly his most introspective. Like in Symphony 1, Bernstein chooses tempi that run generally more brisk than the norm. Sound on this disc is certainly very good to excellent. The soundstage is constricted a bit. Center fill is less than ideal. Clarity is excellent. Oddly, I found the left channel violins to be recorded at a slightly lower level than usually heard in my listening room. The imbalance necessitated an increase in the volume of the left channel slightly (by 1.0 or 1.5 dB) to achieve a more realistic orchestral balance. This performance is excellent with sound to match. It is easily one of the better accounts currently available. Highly recommended! 0Comment | 2 people found this helpful. Was this review helpful to you? Yes No Report abuse Comment Format: Audio CD | Verified Purchase Leonard Bernstein must have been conceived primarily to conduct Mahler - or so it seems! Not that he is exclusively a Mahlerian expert.

He does exceptionally well with most composers, but no one can come close to touching him when it comes to Mahler. Perhaps Lenny and Gustav were born with the same sort of sensibilities or something. I don't know. Lenny and the NYP get it on famously in the two selections on this "Bernstein Century" recording. In many ways Mahler was a unique composer. He introduced more drama in his music that anybody since Beethoven, but he did it a little differently than Ludwig. He obviously learned a lot from the great Beethoven. On this disc Lenny continues his tradition of excellence with Mahler works. His fast movements are just that. In places they take your breath away. The softer passages are delivered just as Gustav himself would have approved. The "Titan" is an overwhelming work Bernstein and the NYP present it perfectly. Mahler would have been proud. Thank God Lenny performed just that portion of the 10th which Mahler finished before he died, unlike other presumptuous composer/ conductors who presume to be expert enough to add to the genius' great work. Shame on them! By all means, add this marvelous disc to your collection.

There is not now, nor will there probably ever be, a superior rendition on the market. Highly recommended. 0Comment | 3 people found this helpful. Was this review helpful to you? Yes No Report abuse Comment Amazon.com: Customer Reviews: Mahler: Symphony No.1 In D ''The Titan'' 24 people found this helpful 4.0 out of 5 starsMuch-admired, though I find it uneven ByKenji Fujishimaon June 3, 2004 This, Leonard Bernstein's second official recording of Mahler's witty First Symphony, has often been called a reference edition by many, but I've always thought that the whole was better than the sum of its parts. The first and fourth movements as performed here are indeed tremendous. In the former, the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra (exquisite all throughout) help bring Mahler's burgeoning spring to vivid life, and its conclusion is powerfully joyful. In the latter, Bernstein lets rip with his typically acute sense of drama, with every expressive nuance conveyed, and the coda never fails to exhilarate. That may be enough for some listeners to agree with the hype surrounding this recording.

Still, for me, the inner movements have always been problematic, interpretation-wise. I've never been convinced by Bernstein's reading of the second movement Landler, just too slow and heavy-footed for my taste. And as for the third movement... This is one of Mahler's wittiest creations, a parodistic funeral march to the tune of "Frere Jacques," with elements of a Jewish cafe band thrown into the mix, as well as a beautiful pastoral section in the middle of it all. In this performance, Bernstein decides on an opening tempo for this movement that hardly suggests a funeral march at all, and while I recognize his attempt to accentuate the parody element that Mahler calls for, the fast tempo kinda destroys what is so witty and delightful about the movement in the first place. Other readings---Kubelik's, for example, in his 1968 DG recording---are more subtle with the humor of this third movement, and thus much closer to Mahler's intentions.

Ok, so the second & third movements don't quite convince---but since the performances of the first & fourth movements here are so good, I think this oft-acclaimed Bernstein reading of Mahler's First Symphony is worthy of the four stars I'm giving it here. I still find it uneven, but even the unsuccessful elements are not necessarily without reason. Maybe you just have to get used to them. 12 people found this helpful 2.0 out of 5 starsVery erratic - For Bernstein fans only ByMike G.on December 26, 2009 I've had mostly negative feelings about this recording for a long time, but I decided to give it one more try today, and I will try for now to withhold most of the overt contempt that dominates some of my other Bernstein reviews. The beginning of the first movement through the end of its exposition is actually ok. Bernstein commits no serious offences that I haven't heard from other conductors, and despite the fact that his pacing seems a little inconsistent, he still elicits a wonderfully atmospheric sound from the Concertgebouw. He takes a leisurely tempo in the exposition that is in line with what Mahler indicates. It's the development that really gets my goat though.

In the transition back to the sustained A's in the violins (around Rehearsal 12), Bernstein slows waaay down, and then adopts an uneven range of 50-70 bpm - his tempo for the introduction. Mahler marks 96, a much faster tempo that is more residual of the exposition. Bernstein then has nowhere to go, holding the tempo where it's at through Mahler's numerous requests (Etwas zurückhaltend, ritardando, Immer noch zurückhaltend, Sehr zurückhaltend) to slow down even more. Then, as if to compensate for this, he adopts the tempo of the exposition (about 84 bpm) for the famous horn theme, where Mahler suggests a much slower and mystical 66 bpm. The rest of the movement follows pretty much by the book, i.e. no worse than usual. Here's the problem: this first movement is supposed to be about the awakening of nature and the human spirit. Nature is constantly in flux, and Mahler reflects this in his tempi more than anything else.

Rarely is there a measure where the tempo isn't gradually speeding up or gradually slowing down, and this is supposed to create a lot of tension. Bernstein just doesn't seem to grasp this. He is always either at Point A or Point B, never traveling in between, never exercising this tension. I'm not a fan of Bernstein's tempi in the second movement either. Mahler marks 66 to a measure in the scherzo and 54 for the trio (Walter's early NY Phil recording, Abbado's remake, along with Zander's and Boulez's, are all very close). Bernstein stays around 50-54 and 29-38 respectively, quickly dispatching any sense of 'Kräftig bewegt' that the orchestra may have had before then. This is one of the slowest second movements on record. Correct me if I'm wrong, but where does Mahler write, "ignore my tempi suggestions completely and play this like a slow landler"? In fact, for that matter, I feel no sense of dance-like quality coming from the Concertgebouw anyway. It's just too stiff. Where's the rubato? Where's the Viennese in this movement?

Bernstein does a complete about-face in the third movement, and for the better, I believe. What a nice tempo! Bernstein lets the sarcasm peak through every once in a while, without going overboard. The interpretive norm nowadays is to take the opening much too slowly for Mahler's `ohne zu schleppen' to be realized. It's the middle sections that are supposed to be slower, not the opening. Bernstein recognizes this, and lets the first couple minutes breathe naturally for once. My only complaint is his entirely new and much slower tempo at Rehearsal 17, at which point the music suddenly begins to drag its feet as it disappears into the distance. The Concertgebouw plays excellently in this movement, bringing out Mahler's expressive colorings much better than they do in the second movement. The acid test is at the 'Ziemlich langsam' section, played here with a very sensuous lilt. The last movement is a tough nut to crack, and again I have mixed feelings about the execution. The fast sections will get your blood racing for sure, but at the same time I feel that the core of the orchestra's sound is a little anemic.

It could just be DG's rather dry recorded sound, but there's no way they can account completely for the overly raspy trumpets and rather feeble horn section, which plague Bernstein's Concertgebouw Mahler 9 as well. The strings come to the rescue in the lyrical sections, in a big way, but again, Bernstein doesn't fully commit to Mahler's more subtle tempo changes, opting for more sustained tempi. His interpretive exaggerations come to the fore in this movement as well. For example, the unmarked ritenutos at measures 7 and 22 detract from the momentum that has just been unleashed. His unmarked piu mosso at the end cheapens the grandeur of the victory and leaves no room for Mahler's own accelerando (and how about those bass drum whacks in the last measure??). There are just too many markings throughout the symphony - often relating to tempo but not always - that are either exploited or ignored, and it really adds up. If you aren't a fan of Bernstein's, I would encourage you to shy away from purchasing this as a first recording. There's just too much of Mahler that is absent or skewed.

I'm very picky about the 1st symphony, but for what it's worth, my current favorite is Ben Zander's epic recording with the Philharmonia on Telarc. He is very extroverted in expression, like Bernstein, but in a way that is often more in line with Mahler's own thoughts in the score.

Question: Whose Symphony No. 1 in D Major is sometimes known as The Titan'?
Answer: Gustav MAHLER